Beetroot Fritters

Beetroot over the years seems to have been banished to the back of the fridge in an out of date pickled jar, or found cubed in random supermarket salads. Not in this house I tell you, not in this house. I make brownies with it, houmous, stews and risottos. Ive got to be honest I don’t ever roast my own, unless my allotment wielding neighbour has a surplus. Roasting your own does taste great, but it takes far too long to cook and always seems to stay on the wrong side of hard for me. So shop bought, unpickled it is.

My biggest tip with beetroot before you cook, is suit yourself up like Walt and Jessie, Breaking Bad style. It gets messy. Seriously. And it stains. In the absence of chemical suits, an apron will do.

400g of cooked beetroot grated

1 onion chopped finely

1 egg

1 tbsp chickpea flour (gram flour)

1 tbsp oil or frying. I use coconut.

Fresh herbs of your choice. I’ve used sage or rosemary.

S&P

Construction: Grate the beetroot & onion into a tea towel or some sturdy kitchen paper and squeeze out any moisture. Add chickpea flour into a bowl and mix in whisked egg, followed by onion & beetroot mixture. Season and add in some chopped fresh sage or rosemary. Mix it all together. Mixture is now ready to cook. Heat the oil in a pan and add a quarter of the mixture to the pan and flatten out into a fritter shape. I actually use a metal cooking ring placed in the pan and press the mixture into to it, to get a fairly even round shape and then remove, doing the next fritter in the pan beside it, and so on. Once they start to cook through, turn over and cook on other side for a few minutes. If you haven’t managed to cook all the fritters in the pan at the one time and don’t want to wash up two pans, keep the ones you have cooked warm in the oven until all are done. Above ingredients makes about 4 fritters possibly 5 at a push. I usually serve with a big salad or spinach and some grilled halloumi on top. Despite being veggie they really do taste very meaty.